FORMER CATHOLIC PR MAN TAKING EPISCOPAL POST

Vincent "Bill" Lewellis of Egypt, Whitehall Township, said he is "returning to church work" as he takes on a new position as communications minister for the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem.

He will serve as a "liaison person" between the diocese and communications media.

Currently working as an insurance broker, Lewellis has 12 years of experience in the public relations field. He was information director for the Catholic Diocese in Allentown 1968-81.

He left that position, and the priesthood, when he decided to get married in 1981.

Lewellis said that as a member of Grace Episcopal Church, Allentown, for the past three years, he has been able to "experience firsthand the prayerfulness, the biblically based spirituality and the concern for social ministry of the people in the Episcopal Church."

He said he became interested in the job after getting to know Bishop Mark Dyer and his staff of the Bethlehem diocese and "found them to be people whose values were biblically based."

"I knew at that point the responsibilities would center around promoting gospel values rather than institution values," he said.

"I really don't see (the job) as issue-oriented. Rather, I see my responsibility more as seeking out stories of people and groups of people who put their faith into action in some particular way."

He said he will be looking for "human interest features" that might come out of the parishes of the 14 counties of the diocese.